Medical  Needs  of 
Chinese  Women  and  Children 


Bound-footed  woman  waiting  for  treatment 


EXPERIENCES  OF  A DOCTOR  IN  NORTH  CHINA 

By  Emma  Tucker , M.D.,  Tehsien 


STEAMING  into  the  first  Asiatic  port  touched  on  the 
way  to  the  great  land  of  China  some  sixteen  years  ago, 
two  young  medical  missionaries,  fresh  from  training 
in  America’s  colleges  and  hospitals,  and  eager  with  a humble  but 
sacred  longing  to  give  to  their  less  fortunate  brothers  and  sisters 
something  of  all  they  had  received,  were  somewhat  surprised  to 
be  arraigned,  with  all  other  passengers,  on  the  deck  of  the  ocean- 
liner  to  pass  a medical  inspection  at  the  hands  of  Oriental  phy- 
sicians. 

This  was  in  Yokohama,  five  or  six  officious-looking,  spectacle- 
wearing  Japanese  physicians  boarding  the  vessel  to  conduct  the 
examination  to  see  if  these  Occidentals,  medical  and  non-medi- 
cal, were  free  from  contagious  or  other  undesirable  diseases.  If 
so,  they  would  be  permitted  to  land.  The  same  program  was 
carried  out  in  the  ports  of  Kobe  and  Nagasaki.  Then,  approach- 
ing China’s  great  port  of  Shanghai,  in  their  innocence  the  phy- 
sicians inquired,  “Do  we  have  to  pass  medical  inspection  at  the 
hands  of  the  Chinese  physicians  here?” 

“No,”  was  the  reply  of  the  ship’s  officer.  “China  is  the  home 
of  Asiatic  cholera,  plague,  dysentery,  and  the  like.  Here  these 
and  similar  diseases  thrive.  There  will  be  no  medical  inspection 
of  us  to  enter  this  land.” 

Too  true  was  this  which  he  uttered.  No  less  true  is  that 
which  has  been  said,  “China  was  opened  at  the  point  of  the 
lancet”  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Peter  Parker.  Tens  of  years  ago 
the  missionary  learned  that  the  medical  arm  of  the  missionary 
service  was  the  entering  wedge  for  the  Gospel  into  the  hearts  of 
the  Chinese.  Through  this  practical  demonstration  of  Chris- 
tian love  and  sympathy,  the  matter-of-fact  Chinese  learned  of  a 
Love  that  could  move  men  to  give  their  lives  and  means  for  the 
good  of  others,  even  to  those  of  an  alien  race  and  unknown  peo- 
ple. This,  until  most  recent  years,  was  our  greatest  point  of 
contact  with  the  Chinese.  No  wonder  that  the  late  Dr.  Henry 
D.  Porter  said  that  more  than  fifty  per  cent  of  a certain  well- 


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known  region  in  North  China  came  to  Christ  because  of  having 
learned  of  Him  through  the  work  of  the  hospital  of  that  region! 

Then,  the  need!  A whole  nation  without  surgery!  A whole 
nation  not  knowing  the  use  of  soap!  A whole  nation  where  eye 
troubles  abound!  A whole  nation  not  understanding  the  causes 
and  effects  of  contagious  diseases!  A whole  nation  with  a pop- 
ulation of  a quarter  of  the  human  race,  but  bound  by  the  fetters 
of  custom,  purposely  crippling  one-half  its  number  by  binding 
the  feet  of  its  women,  thus  making  them  an  easy  prey  to  every 
passing  disease!  In  fact,  a whole  nation  with  only  the  begin- 
nings of  modern  medical  science! 

Upon  the  women  of  such  a land  do  the  physical  ills  that  human 
beings  are  heir  to,  fall  particularly  hard.  Those  precious  eyes! 
Every  girl  must  marry.  There  is  no  future  for  the  daughter  of 
China  outside  of  the  home  of  her  husband’s  family.  She  can- 
not inherit  land  or  chattels  from  her  father.  Yet,  if  she  can- 
not sew,  cannot  do  the  endless  stitching  necessary  to  cover  the 
bodies  of  the  numerous  members  of  the  family,  including  hun- 
dreds of  pairs  of  shoes,  made  of  cloth,  soles  and  all, — each  pair  to 
be  renewed  every  month — “Who  wants  such  a daughter-in-law?” 
All  those  shoes  for  women  and  girls,  covering  wilfully  deformed 
feet,  must  be  beautifully  embroidered  and  exquisitely  stitched. 
Who  can  do  all  this  but  the  young  women?  O,  the  pity  of  it  all! 

See  the  many  children  blind  through  neglect,  their  parents 
knowing  not  the  first  principles  of  cleanliness  for  eyes!  See  the 
numbers  of  women  whose  eye  troubles  are  legion, — victims  of  the 
green  un-dried  fuel  of  grass  and  leaves,  the  acrid  smoke  of  which, 
irritating  the  eyes,  makes  a soil  pregnant  with  possibilities  for 
the  planting  of  trachoma  (“granulated  lids”)!  Then  comes  the 
aftermath  of  that  disease,  eyelids  turned  in;  the  lashes  scratching 
delicate  eye  membranes — no  relief  day  or  night;  inflammation; 
clouding  of  the  eyes;  blindness.  See  the  literal  hundreds  that 
come  to  every  hospital  yearly,  largely  women  and  girls,  with 
eyes  like  these — eyes  that  are  never  wiped,  save  on  the  family 
towel,  year  in  and  year  out,  washed  (when  it  is  washed!)  without 
soap  or  boiling! 

The  tragedy  of  the  eyes  of  China!  Suicide,  or  a life  of  beg- 
gary,— these  await  the  sightless.  But  the  hospitals  minister 
to  these,  and  grateful  hearts  turn  to  the  Giver  of  Light,  seeing 
with  their  “heart-eyes”  as  well  as  their  physical  ones. 


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Early  readers  of  this  magazine  doubtless  remember  the  story 
of  Mrs.  Ma,  the  efficient  hospital  matron  at  Pangchwang  for 
almost  a score  of  years.  In  middle  life  she  became  blind  from 
cataracts.  A widow  with  several  children,  this  condition  re- 
duced her  to  beggary.  When  asking  one  day  for  bread  she  was 
told, 

“Why  not  go  to  the  Pangchwang  hospital  and  receive  your 
sight?” 

“But  I have  no  money.” 

“They  do  not  ask  money.  They  do  these  wonderful  cures 
because  actuated  by  motives  of  love.” 

She  came,  the  journey  requiring  a whole  week — being  led  by 
the  hand  of  her  youngest  son,  called  because  born  in  the  midst 
of  such  poverty,  “Wu  Yin,  No  Silver.”  They  begged  for  food 
the  whole  way.  At  the  hands  of  the  surgeon  she  received  her 
sight.  Her  “heart  eyes,”  too,  were  opened,  and  she  saw  Him. 
She  heard  His  call.  She  applied  herself,  when  past  the  age  of 
fifty,  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  Her  mind  was  an  unusually 
clear  and  concise  one,  level-headedness  going  hand-in-hand  with 
pity  and  mercy  in  all  her  dealings  with  her  own  people. 

“No  Silver”  grew  up  in  the  mission  schools.  He  graduated 
with  honors  from  college,  then  studied  medicine,  and  is  a Chris- 
tian doctor  in  North  China.  With  his  educated  Christian  wife 
they  maintain  a home  noted  especially  for  cleanliness  and  the 
careful  training  and  nurture  of  the  four  beautiful  children  God 
has  given  them.  Picked  from  a rubbish  heap  and  transformed 
into  vessels  meet  for  service. 

Motherhood!  Again  a tragedy!  If  no  sons,  “Please  give  me 
that  which  will  make  it  possible  to  bear  sons.  I have  no  stand- 
ing in  my  family  because  I have  no  male  posterity.  Daily  I am 
made  to  feel  this  by  nagging  persecutions.  There  will  be  no 
one  to  inherit  our  few  belongings.  There  is  no  one  to  carry 
on  the  family  name.  There  will  be  no  one  to  do  honor  to  us  at 
our  graves,  and  minister  to  our  spirits  when  we  are  dead.  O, 
make  it  possible  for  me  to  bear  sons!  Death  is  preferable  to  life 
without  sons.”  How  often  does  the  woman  physician  hear  this 
despairing  cry! 

Last  year  there  came  to  the  Porter  Hospital  for  Women  at 
Tehsien  an  eager  summons  to  the  highest  official  y amen  in  the 
city, — that  of  the  General  in  charge  of  all  troops  of  north-east 


5 


China  from  Shantung  to  Manchuria.  The  suppliant  was  a sec- 
ondary wife,  the  mother  of  four  daughters  and  one  son.  “Slaves” 
she  scornfully  termed  her  daughters,  for,  only  as  the  mother  of 
sons  could  she  hope  to  win  and  hold  the  favor  of  her  husband. 
The  invitation  came  to  the  woman  physician,  but  with  the  added 
request  that  if  the  man  physician  would  accompany  her,  they 
would  be  doubly  grateful.  The  petted  son,  aged  three,  dressed 
handsomely  in  brocaded  satins,  lay  shaken  with  convulsions. 

They  were  urged  to  come  to  the  hospital  for  final  diagnosis, 
but  without  much  hope  of  cure.  Every  form  of  treatment  known 
to  native  quackery  and  prescription  had  been  tried.  The  mother 
told  that,  in  addition,  she  had  made  a vow  in  “The  Medicine 
King  Temple”  (Buddhist)  near  by,  that  if  the  gods  would  heal 
her  son,  she  would  pay  tens  of  thousands  of  strings  of  Chinese 
“cash,”  to  the  temple.  Finally  they  listened  to  advice  and  the 
child  was  brought,  carried  in  the  arms  of  its  devoted  father. 
He  rode  in  a sedan  chair,  borne  by  men,  that  the  child  be  not 
jolted. 

Father,  mother,  a retinue  of  servants,  yamen  runners,  and 
the  like,  took  up  their  abode  in  the  hospital.  Men  in  high  posi- 
tion came  daily  to  confer  with  the  General  in  regard  to  affairs  of 
state.  For  six  days  there  was  trembling,  fear  and  hope,  and 
then  the  little  life  went  out,  a victim  of  tubercular  meningitis. 
They  had  come  too  late. 

The  mother  in  her  wild  grief  could  hardly  be  comforted.  Yet 
in  this  hour  she  thought  to  bring  happiness  to  the  children  of  the 
“foreign”  physicians  who  had  labored,  in  love,  to  save  her  child. 
She  went  to  their  home  and  insisted  on  “sweets”  being  purchased 
for  them,  she  providing  the  money.  The  lovely  little  boy  was 
dressed  in  all  the  regalia  and  elegant  robes  of  a high  official’s 
son,  to  be  laid  away  in  his  cold  home.  The  father  asked  eagerly, 
“Do  you  know  that  innocent  children  will  be  happy  after  death?” 
And  we  had  comforting  messages  for  him, — of  the  God  of  hope, 
of  everlasting  life.  All  this  was  more  real  to  him  on  account  of 
the  ministry  which  the  child  had  received, — a ministry  that  ex- 
tended to  the  entire  family  on  the  part  of  the  full  hospital  staff. 

There  come  other  imperative,  pleading  summons.  The  wom- 
an physician  is  wanted.  Native  midwives,  sometimes  old  and 
blind,  sometimes  strong  and  cruel,  have  attempted  all  that  lies 
in  their  power  to  bring  relief.  An  expectant  mother  lies  exhaust- 


6 


ed  and  near  death  after  three  days  of  terrible  suffering.  The 
maltreatment  to  mother  and  child  is  unspeakable.  A little 
arm  lies  detached.  A meat  hook  near  bears  evidence  of  the  use 
to  which  it  has  been  put. 

We  plead  that  the  patient  be  carried, — on  a crude  native  bed, 
“borne  of  four,” — to  the  hospital.  We  wish  to  exchange  the 
room  with  its  paper  windows,  earthen  floor,  and  mud-brick  bed, 
or  k’ang,  from  which  every  movement  sends  up  a cloud  of  dust, 
for  the  sweet  cleanliness  of  the  hospital’s  white  walls,  appro- 
priate equipment,  and  kindly  ministry  of  nurses  and  others. 
They  listen  and  obey,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  entire  family  is 
won,  because  the  mother’s  life,  at  least,  is  spared.  When  both 
lives  are  given  back  to  them,  their  joy  knows  no  bounds,  es- 
pecially if  one  is  that  of  a son. 

Tuberculosis!  Its  ravages  are  ever  in  evidence.  It  spares 
not  at  all  this  race,  so  almost  universally  underfed.  The  women 
and  girls  with  restricted  lives  and  movements,  by  reason  of 
bound  feet,  living  so  little  out  of  doors,  but  sitting  cross-legged 
in  sunless  rooms,  fall  easily  a prey.  They  come  to  the  hospital 
with  tubercular  affections  of  any  of  the  two  hundred  bones  of 
the  body.  With  tubercular  glands,  tubercular  lungs,  tubercular 
spines,  tubercular  meninges,  but  with  tubercular  bones  especially, 
they  come.  Their  number  is  legion.  The  compressed  bones 
of  the  feet  are  particularly  liable  to  this  affection.  The  sugges- 


Nurse  and  patients  at  Tehsien 


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tion  to  amputate  a foot  or  a hand  on  account  of  this  affliction 
meets  no  happy  response. 

“I’d  rather  she’d  die  than  live  with  only  one  hand,”  says  a 
heartless  husband  to  the  pleading  physician,  even  though  the 
wretched  wife  sits  by,  hearing. 

Another  husband  complains, — or  perhaps  it’s  a father  referring 
to  his  daughter — “She  isn’t  dead,  because  she  still  eats.  She 
isn’t  alive  because  she  can’t  work.” 

With  no  help  for  the  physical  ills, — wounds  undressed  winter 
and  summer,  the  infection  ever  spreading  and  deepening — and 
with  the  family  begrudging  every  mouthful  of  food  eaten  by  such 
an  unprofitable  member  of  it,  a too  often  merciful — to  them — 
relief  is  found  in  suicide.  How  much  of  happiness  comes  to  that 
family  when  the  hospital  can  restore  the  worse  than  useless 
member  of  it  to  its  proper  place  in  the  home! 

One  of  the  brightest  sides  of  the  medical  work  among  the 
women  of  China  is  the  life-call  that  has  come  to  a select  number 
of  these  same  educated  Christian  young  women  to  prepare  them- 
selves to  be  physicians  and  nurses  among  their  needy  own.  Both 
are  new  callings  in  China,  but  nursing,  especially,  is  a very  new 
profession  in  a very  old  land.  Nowhere,  nor  at  any  time,  were 
these  two  avenues  of  compassion  more  appealing.  Here  can 
America’s  women  multiply  their  lives  in  mercy,  in  skill,  in  ten- 
derness, and  in  love,  “a  thousand  fold.” 


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FIGHTING  DISEASE  IN  FOOCHOW 

By  Lora  G.  Dyer,  M.D.,  Foochow  City* 

THE  difficulties  in  medical  work  for  women  and  children 
in  China  are  in  the  main  the  same  as  in  any  other  part  of 
the  non-Christian  world,  as,  for  example,  poverty, 
ignorance  and  prejudice.  But  the  effects  are  worked  out  with 
local  colorings.  In  Foochow,  for  instance,  and  the  surrounding 
plain,  an  area  of  about  fifty  square  miles,  there  are  many  women 
whose  feet  are  not  bound.  The  economic  pressure  brings  it 
about  that  these  women  share  with  the  men  the  field  work  and 
the  carrying  of  loads.  This  brings  to  our  clinics  women  with 
chronic  leg  ulcers  badly  aggravated  by  hours  of  wading  knee- 
deep  in  the  rice  fields,  and  women  load- 

One  ambitious  young  girl  wanted  to 

“read  books”  anti  undertook  to  earn  the 

necessarv  money  bv  carrying  loads.  At  the 

end  of  two  years  her  heart  gaveout  and  she 

could  neither  carry  loads  nor  enter  school. 

More  rarely  the  eco-  wKS  nomic  or  social  con- 
ditions work  to  mark-  ed  advantage,  as  seen 

among  the  boat  people  ■ 1 y who  until  recently 

were  not  allowed  to  \.  j/  live  on  land,  and  who, 
constantly  living  on  semi-open  boats,  are 

noticeably  robust  Dt.  Dyer  and  clean. 

Custom  and  fear  conspire  with  poverty  to  bring  about  much 
pernicious  crowding  both  in  the  country  and  the  city.  Parents 
and  small  children  may  all  sleep  in  one  bed,  some  at  the  head  and 
some  at  the  foot,  usually  without  undressing,  in  a room  closed  up 
as  tightly  as  the  poorly  built  partitions  will  allow.  Children,  and 
even  adults,  often  sleep  with  the  head  under  the  bedcovers. 
Poverty,  of  course,  also  means  underfeeding,  which  is  very  wide- 
spread in  China,  making  the  fight  against  tuberculosis  doubly 
hard,  and  lowering  resistance  against  all  diseases. 

*Note.  Dr.  Dyer's  home  was  in  Plainfield,  Mass.  After  graduating  from  Smith 
College  in  190;},  she  received  her  medical  degree  from  the  Woman’s  Medical 
College,  Philadelphia.  After  serving  a year  as  interne  at  the  New  England  Hos- 
pital for  Women  and  Children  in  Boston  she  joined  the  Foochow  Mission  in  1916. 


9 


THE  building  in  which  Dr.  Lora  Dver  has  begun 
her  hospital  work.  It  is  situated  in  the  suburbs 
ot  Foochow,  in  a district  known  as  Gek  Siong  Sang. 
The  building  is  mission  property,  intended  for  evan- 
gelistic work,  but  temporarily  borrowed  and  fitted  up 
for  medical  work  until  conditions  are  favorable  for  the 
erection  of  the  new  hospital  for  which  funds  are  in 
hand.  Besides  providing  ample  room  tor  a dispensary, 
this  building  has  accommodations  for  a good  number 
of  in-patients. 


io 


The  Chinese  loyalty  to  their  own  ways  and  customs  and  their 
distrust  of  things  foreign  is  a frequent  barricade  in  the  doctor’s 
path.  The  extension  of  confidence  is  mainly  a word-of-mouth 
process.  A few  days  ago  a man  came  leading  in  his  small  son 
saying  that  he  had  the  same  illness  as  the  table  boy  from  our 
neighboring  compound  (an  abscess  of  the  hand)  which  had  been 
quickly  healed  under  our  treatment.  This  boy’s  home  was  at 
least  five  miles  away  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  but  the  table- 
boy’s  home  was  in  the  same  village.  A student  returning  home 
relates  the  successful  treatment  of  some  case  in  school,  a family 
escapes  plague  through  inoculation,  a case  of  diphtheria  is  cured 
by  antitoxin,  a bad  accident  is  satisfactorily  healed  at  the  mission 
hospital  and  the  defense  for  western  medicine  is  passed  on  to  the 
neighbors  and  the  neighbor’s  neighbors. 

The  system  of  medicine  to  which  the  Chinese  usually  pin  their 
faith  is  mostly  quackery.  The  qualification  of  the  native  doctor 
is  the  ability  to  read  and  translate  the  classical  books  on  medi- 
cine, written  hundreds  of  years  ago,  and  to  impress  the  patient. 
A knowledge  of  anatomy  or  physiology  is  superfluous.  Detailed 
descriptions  of  their  drugs  and  treatments  can  be  found  readily 
in  books  on  China.  And  the  treatments  mentioned  are  not 
obsolete  eith'er.  I have  seen  three  children  this  year  with  hands 
and  feet  badly  swollen  due  to  the  use  of  hot  needles.  One  wom- 
an came  in  with  a toe  in  such  condition  that  it  had  to  be  ampu- 
tated owing  to  the  burning  with  moxa  as  a part  of  the  native 
doctor’s  treatment.  Yet  Foochow  is  a port  city. 

The  ignorance  of  the  people  is  a tremendous  factor  in  in- 
creasing the  death  rate.  In  the  epidemic  of  pneumonic  plague 
in  North  China  last  year  a Chinese  official  complained  that 
“the  difficulties  encountered  by  the  Chinese  Plague  Preventive 
Service  in  battling  with  plague  epidemics  were  mainly  owing  to 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  modern  medical  methods, 
due  primarily  to  the  complete  absence  of  missionary  and  other 
medical  institutions  in  the  district  affected  by  the  epidemic.” 

A wide-spread,  long-continued  campaign  in  sanitation  and 
hygiene  in  Fukien  province,  or  any  province  for  that  matter, 
would  undoubtedly  save  more  lives  than  are  now  being  healed 
in  our  clinics.  The  diseases  that  harass  China  the  most  severely 
are  all  preventable, — tuberculosis,  syphilis,  gonorrhoea,  tracho- 
ma, malaria,  dysentery,  plague,  smallpox,  leprosy,  typhoid, 


measles  (more  feared  than  smallpox), — preventable  if  only  the 
people  could  be  educated  into  willingness  to  co-operate  for  the 
benefit  of  their  neighbors  as  well  as  for  themselves.  Our  mis- 
sion schools  have  made  a good  though  limited  beginning, — the 
cleanliness  of  the  homes  of  the  students,  is  noticeable.  The 
physical  examinations  of  the  Ponasang  girls  this  year  showed 
marked  improvement  in  general  health,  and  noticeably  in  the 
ability  to  breathe  deeply. 

There  is  special  need  of  teaching  in  the  care  and  feeding  of 
children  and  in  dietary  matters  in  general.  Probably  99%  of 
the  babies  in  our  province  are  breast-fed  but  the  supplementary 
diet  that  is  offered  them  as  early  as  they  will  accept  it  is  often 
fatal.  Raw,  unripe  fruit,  two  kinds  of  vegetables  about  half 
way  between  a radish  and  a cocoanut,  though  more  juicy,  also 
eaten  raw,  cakes  of  many  kinds,  some  of  them  about  as  digestible 
as  uncooked  piecrust,  anything  that  the  child  cries  for,  is  given 
and  then  a large  quantity  of  steamed  potatoes  is  given  to  cure 
the  diarrhoea  caused  by  “the  weather.”  The  adult  diet  of  rice, 
excellently  cooked,  is  very  wholesome,  but  the  number  of  dys- 
pepsia cases  in  our  clinics  is  disproportionately  large,  apparently 
due  to  the  universal  habit  of  swallow- 
ing the  rice  without  making  any  sort  of 
attempt  at  mastication. 

Next  to  the  need  for  education  in 
hygiene  is  the  crying  need  for  better 


A Chinese  Nurse  in  charge  ajter  the  Surgeon  has  gone 


12 


midwifery.  Over  and  over  the  foreign  doctor  is  called  in 
to  undo  the  damage  after  the  native  midwife  has  been  doing 
her  worst  at  the  job  for  two  or  three  days.  Septicemia 
is  a very  common  sequence.  A year  ago  when  I visited  our 
girls’  school  in  Inghok  a man  from  a nearby  village  came  asking 
me  to  see  his  wife,  who  was  a relative  of  one  of  the  school  girls. 
The  baby  was  more  than  a month  old  but  his  wife  was  still 
“unable  to  walk  and  short  of  breath.” 

I went  to  his  house  and  he  led  me  to  the  bedroom,  a small 
room  with  a tamped  earth  floor,  without  windows,  and  so  dark 
that  when  I stepped  through  the  doorway  I could  not  see  where 
the  patient  was.  A candle  showed  a young  woman  sitting  on 
the  edge  of  the  bed  with  her  forehead  resting  on  a pile  of  dirty 
bedding  placed  in  a chair  opposite  her.  She  could  not  breathe 
lying  on  her  back  and  a bedsore  on  either  hip  denied  her  any 
position  but  this.  Her  bare  feet  were  terribly  swollen  and  as 
cold  as  a stone;  there  was  still  a slight  fever  and  her  heart  was 
simply  galloping.  There  was  no  woman  to  do  anything  for  her 
and  her  husband  and  father-in-law  were  very  clumsy.  When 
she  died  a week  later  I could  not  feel  that  death  was  her  enemy. 

In  all  Fukien  provinces  there  is  no  tuberculosis  sanitorium. 
In  all  China  I know  of  but  two  hospitals  for  the  care  of  the  in- 
sane, one  large  institution  in  Canton  and  a smaller  one  in  Soo- 
chow.  In  the  other  cities  the  insane  are  tied  to  their  beds,  or 
locked  in  bare  rooms,  or  roam  the  streets.  A few  months  ago 
I was  called  to  see  a girl  of  about  sixteen  who  had  suddenly  lost 
her  mental  balance,  refused  to  eat  and  babbled  without  sense  or 
sometimes  raved  excitedly.  Her  parents  dared  not  leave  her 
alone  for  a moment.  All  the  idols  who  could  possibly  be  in- 
terested had  been  consulted  and  the  parents  themselves  were 
nearly  crazy.  It  is  very  probable  that  if  this  girl’s  case  could 
have  been  carefully  studied  and  correctly  treated  in  a hospital 
her  balance  could  have  been  restored  promptly,  but  an  insane 
patient  in  a general  hospital  drives  all  the  other  patients 
home. 

A lad  in  his  teens,  recently  brought  to  the  clinic  by  his  mother, 
made  such  a commotion  shouting  and  weeping  and  spitting  every- 
where that  he  had  to  be  taken  outdoors  until  his  turn  came. 
Three  days  later,  following  heroic  treatment  with  Epsom  salts 
in  his  own  home,  the  boy  returned  alone,  so  absolutely  sane  in 


13 


appearance  that  I could  not  believe  he  was  the  same  patient. 

The  lepers  receive  rather  more  public  attention  and  every 
large  city  has  its  leper  village  without  the  gate,  and  many  lepers 
within  the  gate,  as  well.  Incipient  cases  often  come  to  us  for 
diagnosis.  The  first  patient  that  came  to  the  dispensary  which 
was  opened  last  fall  in  connection  with  one  of  our  churches,  was 
a girl  of  seventeen  with  a single  small  lesion  of  leprosy  on  her 
cheek.  Last  week  a field-woman  came  asking  for  medicine  to 
cure  the  smooth  purple  anaesthetic  spot  on  her  foot.  Advanced 
cases  may  be  seen  daily  in  the  streets. 

The  medical  work  for  women  in  Foochow,  under  the  Woman’s 
Board  of  Missions,  was  limited  during  1918  to  daily  dispensary 
work  only.  This  year,  1919,  has  marked  the  re-opening  of  the 
hospital  for  in-patients,  as  well  as  out-patients,  in  temporary 
quarters,  after  a lapse  of  about  ten  years.  It  has  a capacity  of 
about  twenty-five  beds.  In  the  two  months  since  opening 
about  400  treatments  have  been  given  to  out-patients,  in  addi- 
tion to  263  days  residence  in  hospital.  The  work  is  in  charge 
of  one  physician  with  a Chinese  locally  trained  nurse.  The 
absence  of  a foreign-trained  nurse  means  that  there  is  no  training 
school  for  nurses  in  connection  with  the  work. 


U 


1919 

Woman’s  Board  of  Missions 
14  BEACON  STREET 
BOSTON 


